GROWTH PROSPECTS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES- A CASE STUDY OF KERALA COOPERATIVE MILK MARKETING FEDERATION

India is the largestmilk producer in the world and dairy cooperatives are the backbone of Indian dairy industry. In Kerala, the Kerala Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation,popularly known as Milma,has played a significant role for the development of dairy business. But in the recent years even though the Federationcontinues to mark growth,the percentage of growth has beenfar below the growth of theprivate dairy sector. The study analysed the performance of KCMMF with respect to milk pourment and sale, and of the various welfare schemes of the Federation. The study revealed that the growth in the pourment of milk was not par with the growth of thesale of milk during the period of study. Only 14 percent of the total member farmers were pouringmilk to the dairy cooperatives. Huge amount spent by the Federation for implementing welfare schemes has notcreated a positive impact on the growth of milk pourment. The Federation has to adopt certain criteria to provide such welfare benefits to attract the lost member farmers, which will definitely help the Federation to achieve the very objectives of the welfare schemes.